House Bill No. 44

Introduced By devaney

By Request of the Department of Corrections



A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act limiting the financial transactions of correctional facility inmates; and providing for disclosure of inmates' assets ACCOUNTS IN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS and monitoring of their bank accounts."



Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:



NEW SECTION. Section 1.  Limits on inmate financial transactions. A correctional facility inmate is prohibited from making a financial transaction with any person except through a prison inmate trust account administered by the department of corrections. An inmate may not send or receive money in excess of $100 aggregate a month through the account. Money entering the account in excess of $100 in any month is subject to forfeiture to the department, which may use forfeited money to pay restitution and incarceration costs. AN INMATE OF THE MONTANA STATE PRISON IN DEER LODGE OR THE WOMEN'S CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM IN BILLINGS SHALL USE THE PRISON INMATE TRUST ACCOUNT SYSTEM ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS TO SEND MONEY OUT OF OR RECEIVE MONEY IN THE FACILITY UNLESS THE DEPARTMENT GRANTS THE INMATE AN EXCEPTION. IF AN INMATE ACCUMULATES A BALANCE IN EXCESS OF $200 IN THE INMATE'S PRISON INMATE TRUST ACCOUNT THE EXCESS MAY, AT THE DEPARTMENT'S DISCRETION, BE FORFEITED FOR THE PAYMENT OF RESTITUTION OR COSTS OF INCARCERATION. The department may charge an inmate a minimum fee, not to exceed $2, for each account transaction.



NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Inmate asset FINANCIAL disclosure and bank account monitoring. (1) Each correctional facility inmate shall disclose in writing all of the inmate's assets to the department of corrections and affirm under oath that the disclosure is accurate and complete. Failure to do so is an offense under 45-7-302.

(2) Each correctional facility inmate shall sign a release authorizing the department to monitor any bank account held by the inmate. Failure to do so is an offense under 45-7-302. UPON INCARCERATION AT THE MONTANA STATE PRISON IN DEER LODGE OR THE WOMEN'S CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM IN BILLINGS, AN INMATE SHALL:

(A) MAKE FULL DISCLOSURE OF ALL THE INMATE'S ACCOUNTS IN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS IN WRITING AND UNDER OATH;

(B) SIGN A RELEASE AUTHORIZING ANY FINANCIAL INSTITUTION IN WHICH THE INMATE HAS AN ACCOUNT OF ANY KIND TO PROVIDE THE DEPARTMENT WITH COPIES OF RECORDS OF ANY TRANSACTION IN THE ACCOUNT DURING THE INMATE'S TERM OF INCARCERATION IN THE PRISON OR CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM. RELEASED COPIES OF RECORDS ARE CONFIDENTIAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN 44-5-103.

(C) SIGN A RELEASE AUTHORIZING THE DEPARTMENT TO MONITOR ANY INMATE ACCOUNT IN A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.

(2) FAILURE OF AN INMATE TO DISCLOSE INFORMATION UNDER SUBSECTION (1)(A) OR SIGN A RELEASE UNDER SUBSECTION (1)(B) OR (1)(C) IS AN OFFENSE UNDER 45-7-302.



NEW SECTION. Section 3.  Codification instruction. [Sections 1 and 2] are intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 53, chapter 1, part 1.

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